Circular loom



Oct. 22, 1940. F. s. HARDY 2,218,608

CIRCULAR LOOM 4 Filed Oct. 20. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @wm A Home* Oct. 22, 1940. F, s. HARDY 2,218,608

CIRCULAR LOOM FledDct. 20, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

'l 27 F/GQ F/GB 26 5 32 28- *fr Z 25 M 24 37 7 27 22 23 22 2eN y ,ww/Moy 32 3 Inventvr Patented Oct. 22,1940

UNITED ,y STATES CIRCULAR LOOM Frederick Sutton Hardy, London, England. u-

signor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application October 20, 1939, Serial No. 300,339 In Great Britain November 9, 1938 2 Claims. v (Cl. 139-13) This invention relates to improvementsin or relating to circular looms, and in particular to the shuttle-holding means of circular looms.

The invention is particularly concerned with shuttle-holding means vof vthe type comprising a vane wheel with inclined slots between the vanes adapted to be rotated about its axis at one side of a sheet of warps, so that while its contact with anged rollers in a shuttle at the other side of the sheet serves to position the shuttle in the shed, its rotation permits the threads of the sheet to pass via the slots between the vanes from one side of the vane wheel to the other. Two vane wheels or two pairs of van wheels of this character may be used to engage one side of the shuttle, their thrust against the barrels of the flanged rollers being opposed by the contact A through the warp sheet at the other side of the shuttle of a roller carried by the shuttle body with a circular race concentric with the loom axis. The vane wheels each make contact with two flanged rollers spaced apart in the shuttle body, and with the shuttle thus positioned propulsion of the shuttle relative to the warps is g5 effected by the contact of the faces of the vane wheels with the flanges of the anged rollers. In cases where the warps remain stationary, the shuttles are caused to revolve round the axis of the loom by carrying the vane wheels bodily 30 round the loom.

According to the invention, a vane wheel of the above character has a built-up construction so that the surfaces of the vanes normally forming the walls of the slot between the vanes are 85 accessible for polishing before the separate elements of the vane-Wheel are assembled. Accordingly, a vane-Wheel according to the invention comprises a pluralityv of elements each hav'- ing a plurality of vanes with inclined edges, the vanes of each element being spaced apart so that the elements may be assembled with the vanes of one element separated from the vanes of another element by narrow Aslots formed between the inclined edges of the vanes, and means for securing the elements together in such assembled relationship.

Thus, an 8- or 12-bladed vane wheel may be made as two elements each comprising '4 or 6 equally spaced vanes', the spaces between pairs 50 of vanes of one element serving to receive a vane of the other element, so that when the two elements `are assembled together by a kind of screwing motion the vanes of the two elements alternate with each other, the whole as- 55 sembly having a truly circular periphery and a ythat continuous contact is made between the peripheryand the barrel of each flanged roller; again, as regards the face, substantially smooth contact is made with the flanges of the rollers. In addition, smooth running may be obtained by 1o staggering the positions of the slots of one vane wheel with respect to those of any other vane wheel used to support any one shuttle.

A further feature of the invention consists in increasing the thickness of the slots towards the l5 roots of the vanes by hollowing out the faces of the vanes, this being possible because of the built-up construction of the vane wheels. By this opening-up, greater space is left for the warp threads at the farthest point reached by 2o the threads-during the penetration of the wa'p sheet by the vane wheels. The further space thus provided reduces the deection from the normal line occupied by the warp threads in the loom forced on the threads by the vane wheels as they pass from one side of the vane wheels to the other. In thisway the wearing action of the vane wheels on the warp threads is much reduced, which is especially important where the warp threads consist of low twist continuous filament yarns, easily liable to damage. The hollowing out only starts at some distance from the peripheral edge of vthe vanes, so-as to leave plane the portion of the face of the vane-wheel that engages the flange of a flanged roller.

The invention is also important in that it` enables' the whole surface of the vane wheels making contact with the warp threads to be highly polished, it being possible to obtain access 40 to both faces of each slot, since the faces are formed on the separate elements from which the vane wheel is built up. It is therefore possible to machine and polish the slot faces before the vanev wheels are hardened. Likewise, the hollowing out of the slotsnear the roots of the blades is rendered more simple, since there is available the whole of the gap later to be occupied by a blade of the other element of the vane wheel. Thus, the faces of the slots may be shaped by bobbing.

y Hardening of the vane wheels is vadvisable to enable the loom to run for long periods without attention, it being important to avoid any wearing of the vane wheels or flanged rollers such as might lead to cutting of the warp threads. Preferably, however, the hardening operation is of the type that leads to no distortion of the vane wheels, so that the whole of the machining, grinding and preliminary polishing, and, if desired, preliminary running-in, may be performed before hardening, leaving only final polishing to be performed afterwards. The nitriding process is particularly suitable for hardening the vane wheels without material distortion. A sim'ilar proces may be used for hardening the hanged rollers.

The invention will now be dcrlbed in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. inwhich- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic vertical sectiomof a shuttle and its supporting meam;

Fig. 2isadiagrammatlcplanviewtakenon the line 2-2 ofFls. 1;

3issimilartoFlg.2,butshowsaslight modihcation;

Figsl` 4 and 5 are side elevations of two elements of a vane wheel;

Fig. 6 shows the reverse side of the element shown'in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 shows the elements of Figs. 4 and 5 when assembled; and

Figs. `8 and 9 are sectional and end elevations respectively of the assembly shown in Fig. '1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, I is an exterior sheet of warp threads, and 2 an interior sheet between which the shuttle 3 is caused to pass to lay weft for the spool l. The shuttle comprises an upper part 5 carrying a spool l, an intermediate body portion B and a beat-up edge 1 extending to the fell of the fabric 8. In the body portion i, a roller S is mounted for free rotation about a Slightly inclined axis so as to bear against a circular race I having a rubber cover Il. On horizontal axes I2, I3 are molmted hanged rollers Il, I and I6, I1 respectively. Outside the shuttle is arranged a horizontal shaft I8 arranged to be rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 and also to be driven round the loom'in the direction of the arrow shown in Eg. 2, these rotations being effected by means with which the present invention is not concerned. On the shaft I3 are mounted vane wheels I9, 2l for engagement respectively with the hanged rollers I4, I6 and I5, I1. By the engagement of each vane wheel I9, 2U with the body portions of a pair of hanged rollers and by the thrust of the roller 9 against the circular race I0 the shuttle 3 is held in position between the warp sheets I, 2. By -the engagement of the left-hand faces of the vane wheels, as viewed in Fig. 2, with the right-hand faces of the hanges 2l -of the four hanged rollers the shuttle 3 is propelled round the loom at the same speed as the shaft I8 about the axis of the loom.

As the shuttle rotates the threads of the inner warp sheet 2 pass between the roller 9 and the rubber race II. The threads of the outer sheet I have to pass from the left-hand to the righthand side of each vane wheel. For this purpose the vane wheels are slotted, the nature of the slots being more clearly shown inFigs. 4-9. Each vane wheel is made as two elements 22, 23 shown in Figs. 4 and 5 respectively. 'I'he element 22 comprises a central boss 24 recessed at 25 to provide a narrow rim 26l from which project vanes 21. 'I'he vanes are six in number and are spaced apart to accommodate the corresponding vanes 28 of the element 23 as will appear later.

The circumferential length oi' the venes 21, 2l is such that when the elements 22, 23 are assembledthereexistsbetweenthevanesaslot 2l (Fig. 9) making an acute angle with the faces of the vane wheel. The faces 3l, 3l of the slots are indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, from which it will be seen that the faces are readily accessible for initial machining and hnal polishing, because of the wide gap existing between adjacent vanes 21 or 2l of the separate elements 22, 23.

The faces 3l are also cut away as shown at 32 to reduce the thickness of the vanes 21, 2l towards their roots. Though the cutting-away of the faces 3l extends into the face of the element itself, it starts some distance from the periphery ofthe element so as to leave a plane face for engagement with the flange of a hanged roller. A similar. but slighter hollowing of the reverse faces 3| of the siots'is also effected as indicated at 33 of Fig. 6 and also apparent in Egs. 4 and 5. By this cutting away of the faces, the slots are widened at the part where the deepest penetration of the warp threads into the slots takes place (see Figs. l, 4 and 5), and, instead of being sharply bent in their passage through the slots from one side of the vanewheel to the other, the warp threadsmake this necessary passage with relatively slight dehectlon from their normal line.

The element 23 is placed against the element 22 and is assembled therewith by a screwing motion that brings the vanes 2l between the vanes 21, the central annulus 3l of the element 23 then occupying the recess 25 in the boss 2l of the element 22. The two elements are located by dowel pins inserted at 35 and secured together by screws inserted at 3i. In this way, the two elements 22, 23 are held concentric with one another and their vanes are accurately spaced to give uniform widths to the slots between the vanes. The central holes 31 ht the shaft I8, to which the assembly is secured in any convenient way.

Because of the space between the vanes 21 or 23 oi.' each elements 23 or 2l, machining of the faces 3l, 3I to the inclination required in the slots in the assembled vane wheel is readily effected, e. g., by milling. The hollow portions 32, 33 of the faces can also be readily produced, e. g., by hling or by mechanical means such as bobbing. After machining, all faces can be highly polished preparatory to hardening. Again, after hardening, hnal polishing can be eiiected before assembly of the two elements. It has been found desirable to pay particular attention to polishing after hardening, since the hardening process itself may result in some minute modification of the metal surface which would be harmful to the difficulty of polishing highly hardened surfaces, the accessibility of the disassembled elements makes it possible to apply materials cavdelicate textile threads. Yet, notwithstandingV pable of achieving a high polish, whereas with vane wheels cut in a single solid element, polishing of this character is virtually impossible.

The nitriding process is particularly suitable for hardening the vane wheels, because it produces negligible distortion. It is thus possible for the built-up vane wheel when assembled to have substantially the same accuracy as one cut from a single piece of steel, with the added advantage that all its surfaces may be highly polished, and, moreover, provided with the cut-away portions 3l, 33, neither of which features is readily obtainable in a solid vane wheel.

The angle of the slots is such that the front end of one vane 21 overlaps the rear end of the next vane 28, and so on, as is indicated in Figs. 2 and 9. This enables continuous peripheral contact to be maintained between the vane wheel and the flanged rollers. Advantageously, however, the vane wheel 20 is so positioned on the vane I8 that its slots are staggered with respect to those of the vane wheel I9, so as to minimise the eiect on the accurate positioning of the shuttie 3 of the interrupted peripheries of the vane wheels. The distance between the vane wheels I9, 20 on the shaft I8 exactly equals that between the pairs of flanged rollers I4, I5 and I 6, I1, so that the circumferential thrust of the shaft I8 is distributed as equally as possible between the four flanged rollers. In spite of the interruption of the front faces of the vane wheels by the slots, substantially continuous contact is maintained between these faces and the right-hand flanges of the wheels and the staggering of the slots already referred to minimises the effect of these interruptions.

Fig. 3 shows two pairs 38 of vane wheels making contact respectively with rollers I9, each having two flanges. Where such extra number of vane wheels is necessary, the precautions indicated above regarding stasgering of the slots should be observed.

'I'he number of vanes in each vane'wheel is as l large as the periphery of the wheel permits, the vgreater the number of slots, the less the number of warp threads that have to pass simultaneously through each slot. Fig. 1 shows an -bladed vane-wheel; the 12-bladed wheel shown in Figs. 4-9 calls for a rather larger diameter, in order to maintain adequate thickness at the root of the vanes.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v

l. A vane-wheel for holding the shuttle of a circular loom, said vane-wheel comprising a plurality of elements each having a plurality of vanes with inclinededges, .the vanes of each element being spaced apart so that the elements may be assembled with the Vvaries of one element sepe arated from the vanes of another element by narrow slots formed between the inclined edges of the vanes, and means for securing the ele- 20 

